Lightweight, damage-tolerant, flexible and deployable thin film structures are enabling for a variety of space exploration missions when configured, for example, as solar sails, solar arrays, sunshields, radar and reflect arrays, solar concentrators, and space solar power collectors. Spanning large areas with thin film materials, e.g., membrane structures, to separate environments or to collect and/or reflect spatially disperse particles such as chemicals or electromagnetic radiation can result in progressive failure due to tearing or ripping of the membrane. Methods for increasing thin film durability have involved either increasing the fracture toughness of the materials, increasing the material thickness to carry more load before failure, or adding “rip stop” to the film in strategic areas. Increasing the material thickness introduces a weight penalty and increases packaging space, both disadvantages for a space application. Adding “rip stop” to the membrane typically requires bonding a reinforcing material to the membrane using an adhesive, using human touch labor and wet and/or dry bonding, which can be very expensive and often damaging to the substrate.